State-of-the-art data centre established in Southern Germany

Neckarsulm, April 30, 2010

One of the most advanced data centres in Germany is to soon go into service. TDS’s new facility, with approximately 4,000 square metres of floor space, was erected in Neuenstadt in Baden-Württemberg at a cost of over 10 million euros. Initially, it will be able to house more than 3,500 servers. It will ensure the highest standards in terms of security and reliability, and boast excellent energy efficiency. TDS will now be able to offer additional resources for existing and new customers, since growing IT outsourcing demands are pushing existing data centres to their limits. TDS will also be in a position to provide its parent Fujitsu with additional resources. TDS already serves a number of national and international Fujitsu customers.

Focus on security, reliability and energy efficiency

During planning and construction, emphasis was placed on security and reliability, taking into account the requirements of Uptime Institute’s International Tier III and TÜViT Level 4 certifications.

The building features state-of-the-art fire, burglar-alarm, and physical access-control systems. Plus, there are redundant systems for energy supply, cooling, air conditioning and telecommunications, so the failure of any single component will not result in downtime.

In addition, the new data centre is connected to the existing facilities at TDS headquarters in Neckarsulm, ensuring uninterrupted operation even in the unlikely case of a disaster. As with its existing data centres, TDS plans certification of the new centre through independent authorities to ensure the highest levels of security and reliability.

“Our customers expect maximum security and the highest degree of reliability from an IT service provider. Failures in mission-critical applications that we host would not only have a huge impact on their business; factors such as credit ratings also depend on a secure, reliable and certified IT infrastructure,” says Konrad Meier, member of the Executive Board at TDS and Head of IT Outsourcing. “That’s why security and reliability were our highest priorities in the design of the new data centre.”

State-of-the-art IT systems and effective cooling and air-conditioning contribute to low energy consumption. For example, the indirect free cooling system makes use of outside air; temperatures of 12 degrees Celsius or lower do not require additional cooling. As a result of these and similar measures, the new data centre has been given an outstanding power usage effectiveness (PUE) rating of 1.45 (the lower the figure, the better the rating). Most data centres receive significantly higher figures.

Creating new jobs and safeguarding existing ones

“The construction of our new data centre in Germany enables us to meet our customers’ ever increasing demand for IT services provided locally,” explains Dr. Heiner Diefenbach, CEO and Chairman of the Executive Board at TDS. “Not only does it allow us to safeguard existing jobs, it helps us create new ones – in Neuenstadt and at other TDS sites. The new data centre forms the basis for our company’s further growth.”

Thanks to this growth, TDS is currently seeking various IT specialists, sales and administrative personnel.

Facts and figures

Below are a few facts and figures for the new data centre at TDS:

-Total floor space: 4,000 square metres

-Space available for servers: 1,068 square metres

-Number of servers: 3,500, max.

-Total length of power cables: 77 kilometres

-Total length of data transmission lines: 39 kilometres

-Output of emergency power supply systems: 3.9 megawatts

-Capacity of fuel tank for emergency power supply: 100,000 litres of diesel

-Capacity of fire extinguishing system: 3,360 litres of nitrogen

-Cost of construction: (building including infrastructure, without IT hardware): > 10 million euros

TDS provides a comprehensive range of IT services, including SAP-related offerings, to mid-sized enterprises and major corporations. In addition, TDS offers software, outsourcing and related services for human resource management.

A particular focus is SAP consulting, application hosting and application management. The portfolio also includes industry-specific SAP solutions, e.g. for the process industry, as well as the cosmetics and food and drink sectors. As an outsourcer, TDS provides tailored answers to specific customer needs, and end-to-end management of entire IT infrastructures.

In the HR space, TDS can assume complete responsibility for all processes associated with managing staff. TDS is Germany’s market leader in HR business-process outsourcing (BPO), handling about 800,000 payroll transactions every month. A further million payroll transactions are processed by companies deploying TDS Personal HR software.

Currently, TDS employs around 1,200 staff at some 20 sites in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. In fiscal 2008/2009, the company posted revenues of approximately 132 million euros. Founded in 1975 and headquartered in Neckarsulm, Germany, TDS is traded on the Frankfurt stock exchange (ISIN DE0005085609 and DE0008164286). TDS has been a member of the Fujitsu Group, one of the world’s leading IT players, since 2007.